The Dark Acolyte
by thiela2
Summary: Heroes and legends clash as a dark force from beyond attempts to conquer the world.
1. Chapter 1

I.

Bowser, Jr. did not know if he was dead or alive. Fire and rubble surrounded him. Thick smoke filled the air, blotting out the sun. The nearby volcano let out a deafening roar before letting out some of its flaming rocks. His head throbbed as he forced himself to rise to his feet.

Everything they had worked for was gone.

He knew there would be a fight when the plumbers came. He knew they would do everything in their power to take his mother away from him and to defeat his father. They had already gone across the continent, showing no mercy to Junior's siblings. When word arrived that they were nearing his home, his father's castle, Junior saw to the defenses himself.

Despite everything, it did not stop the plumbers. It barely slowed them down. Despite his best efforts, and the valiant sacrifice of countless members of the Goomba, Koopa, and Hammer Corps, the enemy forced their way deeper and deeper inside the fortress.

They reached the throne room. Junior and his father readied themselves, prepared to fight to the death with the invaders. Junior armed his cart, a gift from his siblings for his fifteenth birthday. His father did not need any carts, weapons, or armor to defend himself or the woman he loved.

"You think you can come into my home, destroy my armies, and take my bride away?" Bowser asked, his voice deep and menacing. He rarely bared his teeth, but he did with a growl. "No. No, you will not do anymore damage to my kingdom."

With that, Junior's father charged at the plumbers. The one in green quickly leapt out of the way, but the one in red showed no fear. He charged at Bowser, and for a moment, Junior could do nothing but stare. The two of them met in the middle of the throne room and clashed.

Fire all around them, their duel was like a clash of the titans. Everything hung in the balance of their battle, a single lucky blow could change the course of history. Their battle would pass into legend, regardless of the victor.

Perhaps if he had acted then, rather than watch in awe at his father battling the small human, Junior could have prevented the tragedy of that day, but he could not bring himself from looking away.

The fighting styles of the two could not have been more different. Junior's father's size made him slow, but every time he struck the red plumber, his opponent went flying backwards. The red plumber moved fast. What he lacked in strength he made up for in agility. He could not match Bowser in strength, but he could strike many blows in the time it took Bowser to land one.

Junior did not see the plumber in green climbing up the enormous drapes until it was too late. The green plumber leapt off the drapes and landed precariously on the enormous chandelier hanging high above the floor.

Bowser had the red plumber in his grip. He squeezed him, tightly. "It's over, boy," Bowser said.

In a quiet voice, with a thick accent, the plumber said, "Not yet," he turned his eyes towards the ceiling. "Luigi, do it now!"

"Father, look out!" Junior cried, but it was too late. The green plumber cut the rope of the chandelier, and it fell careening towards Junior's father. The Koopa King let go of the red plumber in his shock.

The chandelier crashed down on Bowser, crushing him beneath its weight. Rumbles shook the entire castle. Junior ran towards his father, pinned beneath the weight of the chandelier. He took his father's claws in his.

The red plumber approached Junior and grabbed him out of his cart. He raised a hand towards the boy, and a hot, red flame combusted above his palm. "Where is the Princess?" he demanded to know.

Junior could not bring himself to lie with his father's broken and battered body so close to him. He was too emotional to say anything but, "She's in her bedroom. The third floor."

The red plumber brought his flaming hand close to Junior's head so he could feel the heat on his face.

"That's enough, Mario. Let's get out of here before the volcano erupts and takes the whole castle down," the green plumber said, his voice shaking. He put a hand on the red one's shoulder.

Junior could tell by their faces that the two plumbers were brothers. He did not look like his own siblings, but that was because they had a different mother than him. They were only his half-siblings. Junior was the only child of his parents, the son of Bowser and Peach, the Princess the plumbers had come for.

The red plumber hesitated but let Junior go. The flame above his hand extinguished. He and his brother backed out of the throne room. The tremors of the eruption became more violent. The portrait of Bowser hanging behind the throne fell to the ground as Junior approached his father.

"Dad," he said with a crack in his voice. "Dad, I'm so sorry."

"Son," Bowser said. He reserved the ferociousness of his voice for his enemies. He spoke in a tender voice to his son. "Where is your mother?"

"They're taking her, Dad. Come on. We can still stop them."

Bowser closed his eyes like he knew the answer before Junior said it. "You need to get out of here, son."

"I'm not going without you," Junior said. He climbed back into his cart and used its mechanical arms to try and lift the chandelier up, but it was too heavy. The arms bent and snapped. The shaking became nearly unbearable. Large stones fell from the ceiling. "I'm not going to let you die here."

A stone landed just a few meters away from Junior, but he did not notice. He took his father's claw in his and tried desperately to pull him out. He could not even get him to budge. He cursed himself for having such short, weak arms.

"Son," Bowser wheezed out a puff of smoke. "It's too late for me. You need to take over the Koopa cause. You need to lead our people to victory."

"We'll lead them together," Junior promised, but he knew it was too late. His father lay beneath the chandelier unmoving.

Bowser, the King of the Koopa, was dead.

Junior was not entirely sure what happened next. He remembered letting out a scream, and fire erupting from his mouth as he did. It was the first time he ever breathed fire. After that, his memory went dark. The next thing he knew, he was waking up amidst rubble and smoke, not certain if he was dead or alive.

There was no trace of the plumbers, nor of Peach. In a daze, Junior walked up the volcanic slope towards where the mightiest fortress the world had ever known once stood. Rivers of lava flowed down the slope around him, but he did not fear them. He gave the streams of liquid fire no notice, his eyes focused in on the pile of rubble beneath which lay his father's corpse.

Junior was the leader of the Koopa now. He always knew the day would come, but he did not expect it so soon or under such circumstances. In his head, he always pictured his father passing the title to him in an elaborate ceremony. In this fantasy, Peach sat by his father's side. His siblings would become his generals, and together, they would reclaim the lands stolen from them by the Mushroom Kingdom.

Reality had smashed that fantasy into smithereens. His father was dead. His siblings were dead. His mother was taken by the enemy. The armies he once felt destined to command were no more, having been devastated by the plumbers' attack.

Like his father's castle, Junior's life was demolished. The mountain shook beneath him. He had nothing and no one to turn to. Perhaps for the first time in his life he felt afraid. He did not see a way to lead his people to victory when so much had been lost.

Junior took one last look at where his home once stood. Then he turned away from the rubble and devastation and looked down the mountain slope. Far away, beyond the smoke and fire of the mountain, lay the Mushroom Kingdom. Centuries ago, its people had driven his kin away from the lush valleys and rolling hills to the barren, ashy wastes of Grumble Volcano. For centuries, Junior's ancestors fought to reclaim their land. Now the duty had been passed to him, but with no army, it seemed like the cause of his father would die alongside him.

Junior let out an agonized cry into the air. It echoed off the cliffs, but no flames came out of his mouth this time.

"Do not be afraid," a voice seemed to whisper on the wind.

Junior looked around, but he saw no one. "Who said that?" He asked. He readied his claws for a fight.

A brilliant, blinding light suddenly appeared. So bright was the light that it forced Junior to shield eyes. It was not red or orange like the lava of the volcano, but a pure, radiant white. The light itself seemed to speak to Junior.

"Do not be afraid of me, my child. It is your father, Bowser."

Junior did not know what to say. It did not sound like his father's voice. He stood in awestruck silence, unsure if he was hallucinating or if what he saw was real. He wondered if the light was a sign he truly was dead.

". . . father?"

"Come to me, my son. Step into the light."

Perhaps Junior was dead. Perhaps it was his father's voice speaking to him from beyond the mortal world. If that was the case, Junior felt no fear entering the glow. The possibility the light was lying, however, caused him to hesitate.

He thought about everything that had happened. He thought of his father's body lying limp beneath a chandelier. Maybe the light was not his father, but it promised him revenge. That was enough for him.

"You swear you're my father?"

"His spirit."

Bowser, Jr. looked back towards the Mushroom Kingdom. Then, he turned, and stepped into his father's light.


	2. Chapter 2

II.

Mushroom City stood at the center of the Mushroom Kingdom, far away from the slopes of Grumble Volcano.

Few cities in the world are like the capitol of the Mushroom Kingdom. The mighty metropolis rose out of a vast plain with tall buildings of steel and glass. Lights from the skyscrapers rising out of the Toadstool Plateau acted like a lighthouse, beckoning road weary travelers to come and receive whatever they may need.

People moved to some cities for careers, or for family, or for a variety of any other reasons. People moved to Mushroom City because the city itself was the end goal. If a person could make it to Mushroom City, things would fall into place for them. Some cities are known for their lights, or cuisine, or beautiful architecture. Mushroom City was not only known but legendary for all these and more.

It was a particularly warm day in Mushroom City when the kingdom's greatest heroes, the brothers Mario and Luigi, returned from doing battle with the Koopa forces to the west. The sunshine made the celebrations all the more festive. Nearly the whole city went down to the streets to watch the triumphal entry of the brothers and the return of the kingdom's beloved leader, Princess Peach. Those that were not out celebrating on the streets looked on from the windows of offices and apartments to watch the parade.

Mario, Luigi, and the Princess rode upon a golden coach at the back of the parade driven by the steward, Toadsworth. In front of them marched a band, playing a song bursting forth with jubilee and strength, soldiers who fought alongside the plumbers in the assault on the Koopa lands, and various government officials.

One name alone was chanted above all the others. "Mario! Mario!" cried the crowd. The red clothed plumber embraced the fame, waving his gloved hand and shooting finger guns at the people. Some of the children would remember the parade years later, and recall how Mario looked right at _them_ and gave _them_ the thumbs up.

Unlike his sibling, Luigi kept relatively still on the parade route. He waved, but not nearly as grandly as Mario. With nearly every eye on his brother, however, few people noticed his reservation.

The victory parade started at Princess Peach's Castle a few miles outside of downtown and ended at the city hall in the center of the district. A large stage was built before the steps. A chorus stood behind it, singing the kingdom's anthem.

Peach, Mario, and Luigi climbed down off the golden coach and walked up the steps. Each took a seat on the stage. Peach took the tallest chair besides the Toad Minister and the Chancellor. Mario and Luigi, despite being the main attractions of the parade, took plainer seats near the end of the row.

Several minutes passed before the cheering died down. Eventually it faded from a deafening roar to merely a loud one. At that point, Toadsworth went up and began to speak, reading from little notecards he wrote the day before when news of their victory reached his ears.

Mario looked at Luigi, sitting uncomfortably in the seat beside him and gave him a firm pat on the back. Luigi looked to his older brother and smiled half-heartedly.

Before Mario could ask what was wrong, Toadsworth's speech ended. "And now," he said, "I would like to hand over this podium over to our hero, Master Mario. May a light shine over all of you, and over all the Mushroom Kingdom."

The cheers and applause at the end of Toadsworth's speech changed into cheers and applause for Mario. He went up to the podium. For his early life, he never considered himself a public speaker, but lately, with everyone demanded to hear his voice, he had got used to it. Part of being a hero, he reasoned, meant giving speeches to bring out the best in people.

"Thank you, Steward Toadsworth. In the coming weeks and months, we will need leaders like you to help guide us in peace as much as we needed you in war," Mario said. His accent, already thick and heavy, was amplified by the microphone. "Citizens of Mushroom City, and citizens across our great kingdom, and of other realms watching this, I am happy to announce that the war against the Koopa forces is over. The Mushroom Kingdom stands in victory over our long enemy."

His note cards told him to pause with that for cheers. He was not disappointed. The conflict with the Koopa had gone on for generation after generation, either through proxy or through outright battle. Everyone had either lost, or knew someone who lost, a loved one from the war. With the kingdom's long time enemy lowering its flag for the final time, no one would ever have to die from it again.

"The long war has left deep scars in our land, not only in the physical but in the emotional, too. The fighting is indeed over, but the conflict continues. We must never forget the great sacrifice we all went through to achieve victory," here Mario paused again for cheers. The crowd gave them to him, graciously. "We here on this stage will do our part to rebuild our kingdom, but we cannot do it alone. We need each and every one of you to help us and our fellow citizens make this country whole once more. The change from years of war to peace may not be an easy one, but together, we will cross the bridge."

Mario finished his speech to thunderous applause. The kingdom's anthem played once again and he, Luigi, and all upon the stage stood and placed their hands over their hearts. Then, with the applause growing louder, they turned and went inside the city hall.

"That was a lovely speech, Master Mario," Toadsworth said as the heavy doors closed behind them. "Have you ever considered a career in politics? I'm sure you could be quite successful."

Mario laughed. "Maybe someday," he said. His accent in private was nowhere near as pronounced as it was while addressing the public. "Right now, I'm content with where I am." He took Princess Peach's hand in his. She blushed.

"The whole kingdom loves you," Toadsworth said, "and you as well, Master Luigi. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would want to see anything bad happen either of you. What is next for the two of you?"

Luigi opened his mouth, about to say something, but Mario cut him off. "We will go wherever the Chancellor sends us," said Mario, keeping his eyes on the beautiful princess.

They turned into the Chancellor's office. It was only five of them now – Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toadsworth, and the Chancellor. The rest of the officials had returned to their own offices.

"And where might that be?" Peach asked, taking a seat on the sofa along the wall. Hanging above her on the wall was a portrait of herself, which would have been uncomfortable for many, but not for Peach. She was used to the idea of statues and paintings of herself decorating town squares and mayoral offices.

Mario turned toward the Chancellor, "I don't know. Where will it be?"

"The defeat of the Koopa has opened up the western roads to trade with the peoples beyond the volcanic belt," the Chancellor spoke with a raspy, ancient voice like a wizard out of a fairy tale. "If it is the Princess's wish, I believe sending the two of you to act as ambassadors to our new neighbors would be in the best interest of our kingdom."

Unlike her father, Princess Peach insisted on being involved in the decision-making process of the Mushroom Kingdom. This led to some difficulties for the older officials in government, who were used to doing things without having to consult the monarch. The Chancellor still felt odd needing to ask for her permission, although others, such as Toadsworth, had grown used to it.

Princess Peach sighed, then looked at both Mario and Luigi. She had fallen in love with the older brother, and considered the younger one of her closest friends. Still, she knew she needed to put the needs of the kingdom above her own feelings. "Although I will miss you both, I think it would be terrific if the kingdom's greatest heroes represented us abroad."

"Then it's settled," said the Chancellor. "The two of you shall act as ambassadors for us."

Luigi seemed to slump beneath an unseen weight on his shoulders. He looked at Mario, standing tall and proud and ready to accept their new assignment. He wanted to say something to his older brother, but not in the room with everyone else.

"And where exactly are we going?" Mario asked.

The Chancellor replied, "Hyrule."


	3. Chapter 3

III.

"You look sad. Is everything alright?" Mario asked.

His brother stood on a small balcony overlooking the main avenue of the city. Heavy traffic clogged the street, with the whole population of the city trying to leave the parade route at the same time. Even from fifteen stories up, the honks and angry civilians shouting obscenities at each other rose and filled the cool, evening air.

Luigi kept his back facing Mario and leaned on the guard rail, not saying anything to him. The setting sun colored the sky with hues of reds and deep blues, the same colors his brother wore. It seemed even the sky adored Mario.

Mario walked up and joined his brother on the balcony. He placed a kind hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine," Luigi replied, turning his head away.

"Luigi," Mario said calmly. Their voices were completely different, but his tone could not help but remind Luigi of their mother. Luigi turned and saw Mario smiling beneath his mustache at him.

"Really. Nothing," Luigi forced a smile to show Mario everything was fine, fine being a lie. Even his smile, with closed, puffy, red eyes and salty streaks running down his cheek, could not hide the truth. He knew the smile did not fool Mario, and even if it did, the slumping shoulders, the heavy voice, and the melancholy air hanging about him would be a dead giveaway.

"Luigi, don't say that," Mario teased. "Don't say that to me."

Luigi slapped him away. "Stop that. You're being weird."

Mario laughed. "Just trying to get you to talk to me," he said.

"I know," Luigi said. Then he repeated it again, softer and to himself the second time. "I know."

"It's home, isn't it? You miss Brooklyn?" Mario asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah," said Luigi, "I miss Brooklyn. I miss . . . Earth."

Luigi had aged so much in the nine years since they took 'the wrong warp pipe' and found themselves stranded in the Mushroom Kingdom. He had gone from being a plumber in his own world to something of a soldier in the new one. He had a seat at the table in the kingdom's government. He knew he should feel happy and should never want to leave the place, but something in his gut refused to let him call the Mushroom Kingdom his home.

Mario, however, loved the Mushroom Kingdom far more than his home world. He slept in the bed of a castle rather than a sleazy bed in Brooklyn. He missed home at first, but after only a few months he came to see the magical new world he ended up in as his true home, the place he was meant to be.

"But how?" Mario exclaimed. He gestured out towards the city beneath them, a city ten times as wonderful as New York or Paris or Rome or anyplace else Earth could produce. "How could you miss Earth when there are real, living dinosaurs here you can ride like a horse? How could you miss Earth when you live in a penthouse apartment with a view like this? How could you miss Earth when the gravity here lets us jump a dozen feet in the air and swing a sledge hammer the same way we swing a baseball bat?"

"You don't get it."

"So help me. Teach me. Tell me what you're feeling."

Luigi turned and went back inside the apartment. He plopped down on the couch and tossed his gloves on the table before rolling up his sleeves. "We've been here almost a decade, Mario. We said we'd help them fight Bowser, and we did that. Now they're asking us to be ambassadors to some different kingdom. When does it end? When are we allowed to just take a day off?"

Mario followed Luigi back into the apartment but remained standing behind the couch. Completely missing the point, he said, "Well, the convoy to Hyrule isn't leaving until the end of the week. We have free time until then."

"That's not what I meant. Look, they said they'd help us get home, right? Now they're asking us to stay even longer."

"I still don't understand why you even want to go home so bad."

"Everything is great for you here," Luigi sighed. He wondered what he would have to do to drive this point home through Mario's thick skull. "You're dating a princess. You could become a governor. You're the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Everyone loves you – they call us the Mario Brothers for crying out loud! Mario isn't even our last name."

"So you want to be recognized? Is that it?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all," Luigi said, although deep down, he admitted he did want it. He paused to think. "I just . . . I get why you love it here, but there were people I cared about in Brooklyn. I didn't mind being a plumber. I liked my little apartment even though it was old and too close to the train. Mario, this isn't my world."

The last sentence hurt Mario like a punch to the chest. He loved his brother, and he loved the Mushroom Kingdom. The fact that the two refused to get along with one another was like having two friends unable to stay in the same room.

"I understand," Mario said, faintly. "You want us to go home. I'll step down from being ambassador. We'll find our way back to Brooklyn."

"No, I don't want _us_ to go home. Mario, you love it here. You deserve to be happy with Peach and to stay. I don't want us to go home, Mario," Luigi said. He felt tears swelling up in his bright blue eyes. "I want to go home alone."

Mario said nothing. He kept perfectly still. His mind raced, trying to think of reasons for Luigi to stay, to go to Hyrule with him, to fall in love with the kingdom that had captured Mario's heart.

"I'm going to tell the Chancellor I'm resigning from my duties. I'm going to find a way back home."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Mario could barely let the words escape his throat.

Hesitantly at first, then with more resolve, Luigi nodded. He got up off the sofa and looked his brother directly in the eye, but Mario averted his gaze. "I'm sure," he turned and exited the apartment.

Mario stared at the door, hoping that Luigi would come back in and reveal he changed his mind. They would go to Hyrule together and then come back to the Mushroom Kingdom where they would live happily for the rest of their lives with friends and loved ones. He waited for Luigi to come back and fulfil this fantasy for a long time. The sun set leaving the apartment in darkness but still he waited.

Eventually there was a knock on the door. Peach did not bother waiting for Mario to let her in. After five years together, the only reason she even knocked was to be polite. She walked in with a smile on her face and a bag of take out in her hand. The smile faded quickly when she saw Mario standing alone in the dark.

"Mario? What's wrong?"

"Luigi is going to try to find his way home."

"Where is he? Do you want me to send him directions?"

"No. _Home_ home. To Earth."

"Oh," Peach said. She took a seat right where Luigi had been sitting an hour or so earlier. Mario sat beside her. His hands dangled between his legs. "Is there anything I can do? Do you want to talk about it?"

Mario knew that sooner or later, he would need to talk, but right then he wanted nothing more than to drive the issue from his mind. He shook his head and grabbed hold of Peach's soft, delicate hand.

"No," he said. Then, desperately trying to change the subject, he told her, "Tell me about Hyrule."


	4. Chapter 4

IV.

The road across the mountains was a long and treacherous one. Though the ambassadors to Hyrule could take the Mushroom Kingdom's railroads far, the tracks petered out when they reached former Koopa territory, forcing them to take a more archaic form of transportation across the Volcanic Belt. The dinosaurs were tame and easy to control, but they moved far slower than the slowest of the trains. There were several times Mario thought he was going to die of boredom.

Seven ambassadors went west. Captain Toad, the son of the Chancellor, was the leader of the expedition. Mario served as junior ambassador. Along with them came a linguist who spoke Hylain, as well as some of the regional dialects of Hyrule. The rest of the expedition was made up of guards and public servants who were merely there to carry things.

The western regions of the Mushroom Kingdom had been under the control of the Koopa family for generations. While bustling metropolises rose in the kingdom's heartland – Mushroom City and Glitzville being the largest among them – only small villages dotted the western frontier. Though these villages were officially under the jurisdiction of the Mushroom Kingdom, they had been under Koopa power for two centuries. A strange aura developed around them, for they were part of the Mushroom Kingdom, but included in it. The inhabitants of these small villages watched with eerie eyes as the ambassadors from the east passed through their homeland.

"I don't get it," said Captain Toad, riding his dinosaur up alongside Mario. "We've liberated these people. Why don't they trust us?"

"They think the House of Toadstool abandoned them," Mario said, watching as an elderly man closed his shutters as the column rode past. "Why would they trust the people who left them to suffer under Bowser's regime?"

Eventually they moved beyond even the farthest of the villages and entered the Volcanic Divide, which ran along the middle of the continent. Only the brave and the bold lived in the harsh spine of the region, for only the fearless could survive in a land where lava ran like rivers and sulfur suffocated the sun.

The Volcanic Divide was marked by two great mountains that stood taller than all the others. The eastern one was called Grumble Volcano while it's western sister went by a more sinister name – Death Mountain. The ambassadors first saw the latter nine days after setting out from Mushroom City. They passed by during the night. Mario felt as if stone faces watched their journey.

On the tenth day, they arrived at Kakariko, a town at the base of Death Mountain. They rested for a day before setting out towards Castle Town, their final destination.

"What a place," Captain Toad said. He and Mario were setting up tents next to one another just outside the village. "You know, if you like the smell of chickens getting into every inch of your equipment."

The sun rise of the twelfth day greeted them to Castle Town, nothing but a small, backward, and backwater hamlet when compared to Mushroom City. Mushroom Kingdom could advance throughout the years because, although Bowser and the Koopa were a threat, they never managed to conquer the kingdom as a whole. Hyrule remained in a stasis, for it often suffered devastating attacks from a dark enemy known only as Ganondorf.

Luckily, by the time the ambassadors arrived, Ganondorf had passed from memory to legend. In the end, the road to Hyrule Castle from Mushroom City was a peaceful one with no interruptions, a welcome change for Mario, who felt all to use to someone or something attacking him on his travels.

Princess Zelda greeted her guests on the steps of the castle, the one place in all of Hyrule that gave the Mushroom Kingdom a run for its money. It was not like Peach's Castle, which had been built merely to serve as a home for the royal family. Hyrule Castle served as both home and fortress.

The princess of Hyrule was the most ethereal being Mario had ever seen. Peach was beautiful; Zelda was powerful. She stood atop the steps wearing a dress of violet and white. A long sword hung by her side. Mario wondered why she needed the guards, since it looked like she could easily take care of herself.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Hyrule," said Zelda. Despite her youth, she spoke with an air of regal maturity. Her voice sounded mystical, like she had been touched by something beyond mortal comprehension, even though she did not speak in her native tongue. "For too long, our nations have been separated by our foes. Tonight, we will celebrate your victory and look toward the future of our shared destiny."

As she spoke, her piercing blue eyes gazed down at Mario. He could not help but turn his head, fearing that she saw deeper into his heart than he cared to let her.

"Thank you, your majesty. I am Captain Toad, and I am the chief ambassador of this expedition," Captain Toad stepped forward and introduced himself with a bow. "Your people are incredibly kind, and you are incredibly kind to us as well for inviting us to your home. Incredibly kind, and incredibly beautiful."

Zelda kept her eyes on Mario. He could feel himself sweating under her gaze.

"I wish to speak with the one who defeated the Koopa."

"Mario?" He asked, furrowing his brow. "I mean, sure, you can, I suppose. He's just a junior ambassador. I'm the leader of this mission."

"I wish to speak with him," said Zelda, "Alone."

Captain Toad glanced over at Mario. He shrugged and nodded with a hint of resentment. In a different world, he would have been the one to defeat Bowser and get the hero treatment from now not one but two kingdoms. Still, he gave credit where credit was due and gestured for his junior assistant to go with the princess.

With a bit of hesitation, Mario moved up the steps, nervous that the wrong step might lead to the guards using their long spears on him. He followed Princess Zelda into the halls of the castle.

"Something troubles you," Princess Zelda said, matter of factly. She walked quickly, forcing Mario to keep pace with her. "I thought there were two of you. Tell me, where is your brother?"

Mario did not know how she knew so much about him while he knew so little about her. Despite the lack of familiarity, he felt inclined to tell her the truth. "He didn't come," he said. He thought of that night with Luigi. It felt so long ago, yet so close at the same time. He tried to write a letter to him on his journey, but could not think of the words. It had been the longest time the brothers had gone without speaking to one another. "He's looking for a way home."

"To Brooklyn?" Zelda asked. The word from Earth sounded odd on her tongue.

"Yes . . . how did you know that?"

"The goddess Hylia gives me sight beyond my eyes," said Zelda. They entered the castle's throne room. "Home is a powerful thing worth looking for. Do not blame your brother for not following you. I believe your paths will cross again."

"I don't blame him," said Mario. "And why do you believe that? Why are you so concerned about what my brother is doing?"

Zelda approached a pedestal before the throne. A seal of three golden triangles creating a larger one decorated it. She laid her hand upon the seal, which glowed when her hand touched it. A map of the world and the constellations above suddenly materialized around the throne room, striking awe and wonder through Mario, for it looked far more realistic than the greatest holograms of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"There is going to be an attack on Hyrule, but it will in reality be an attack on the whole world. It will drag our world into war," Zelda said. "From the Mushroom Kingdom to Hyrule to Archanea, this war will be greater than any ever seen. It will make your battles against the Koopa look like nothing more than pups fighting for table scraps. I do not believe this attack will be repelled, even with your brother's help, although he may have evened the odds for us."

A flame began at Grumble Volcano and grew and grew until it burned across the entire map. It reached the walls of the throne room and began burning upwards toward the ceiling, burning even the stars and moon in the holographic sky.

"Why are you telling me this?" Mario asked.

"You are not of this world, yet you have stayed to fight for it," Zelda answered. "In these difficult days, it is hard to know who to trust, but I trust you. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, your majesty."

Zelda nodded and took a seat on her throne. "Then we must both be ready," she warned. "For the attack comes tonight."


End file.
